General Election 2019: South Thanet result live
21:45, 12 December 2019
updated: 05:40, 13 December 2019
Conservative Craig Mackinlay has held onto the South Thanet seat - and has increased his majority.
Mr Mackinlay saw off Labour hopeful Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt by 10,587 votes.
Summary
- Conservative Craig Mackinlay has been re-elected as South Thanet MP, receiving 27,084
- Turnout for the constituency was down to 66.19% from 68.91% in 2017
- Nationally, the poll is forecasting a huge majority for the Conservatives - with them taking 368 seats and Labour 191.
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Live Reporting
By Katie Davis and Jack Dyson
05.33
That's it for the South Thanet count... until next time!
04.45
04.41
Craig Mackinlay re-elected as South Thanet MP, receiving 27,084 votes.
04.27
Quiet in the counting room now. Counting appears to have finished for South Thanet.
04.04
Aspiring MP Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt says it's not been a great night for the Labour party.
She says she isn't feeling hopeful for the South Thanet seat, but added: "Hopefully we will have decreased the margin so we can win it next time."
03.17
The final MP hopeful has finally arrived! Labour's Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt is now here.
03.03
While the count continues in Thanet, and looks set to do so for the next couple of hours, three Kent seats have been announced.
Labour's Rosie Duffield has retained the Canterbury seat, despite fierce competition from Tory rival Anna Firth.
Damian Collins has held Folkestone and Hythe for the Conservatives, and Damian Green has been re-elected as Ashford's MP.
02.28
02.01
The highest turnout in the last three elections was in 2015, when Ukip's Nigel Farage stood to be South Thanet's MP.
He was pipped to the post, however, by Craig Mackinlay (Con) - who won with a majority of 2,812 votes.
01.47
Turnout has been announced at 66.19% - that's down on both 2017 (68.91%) and 2015 (70.4%).
01.23
00.47
There are indications we could be waiting later than the originally estimated time of 5am for results to be announced.
00.34
Becky Wing (Green), Martyn Pennington (Lib Dem) and Craig Mackinlay (Con) are all here, and have been for some time.
Labour's Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt, however, still has yet to arrive.
00.03
Craig Mackinlay is feeling confident for another win.
Speaking to Thanet Extra, he said: "I'm standing here feeling confident. It's going to be a majority for me by the looks of things as they stand at the moment.
"I would say it may go up a little bit."
With wife Kati by his side, he has been keeping an eye on votes being counted.
23.43
All the ballot boxes have now arrived. All of the candidates, however, have not.
23.38
23.14
23.01
As you may know, tonight's election is the third in four years. Here's a look at the results from 2015 and 2017.
22.53
Reflecting on the exit poll, Lib Dem candidate Martyn Pennington said he is "pleased Lib Dems have gone up one".
He added: "I mean, you don't join Lib Dems to be a career politician. You join because of your beliefs".
22.19
And the counting has begun...
Conservative and Labour spotters are keeping a watchful eye on every cross counted.
22.07
The exit poll suggests the Conservatives could be sitting pretty on 368 seats come the end of the night - a huge majority.
22.06
All of the counters have arrived and are in position ready to start counting as soon as the ballot boxes arrive.
21:40
Labour ran the Conservatives closest in 2017, with Raushan Aura - now the Mayor of Ramsgate - 6,387 votes behind Craig Mackinlay.
With no Ukip candidate this time round, and Nigel Farage opting not to fight Tory-held seats, we're looking at a four-horse race.
But something extraordinary would have to happen for the Lib Dems or Green Party to make the winners' enclosure.
21:30
With just half-an-hour until the polls close, we've arrived at Hartsdown leisure centre, where votes for the South Thanet seat will be counted.
The bookies and pollsters are predicting a clear win for Craig Mackinlay, but surprise results do happen, as his former Kent colleague Sir Julian Brazier found out in 2017.
Exit polls at 10pm will no doubt shed more light on the local and national picture.
Follow our KentOnline live blog for the latest updates and results from across the county.
To see who was elected in South Thanet in 2017, click here.
